Not where, how

[NKlamerus]

What size S-waver are y'all using? I have some of the 168s and 200s but no major success. I'm not in love with how much the roll? But I know it's the fishes opinion that matters. I just started with the lite trout, bone, and trout colors.

I tend to prefer slab shaped baits more, Matt lures soft gills, wade hoggs and whippersnappers for moving baits

The ganteral original and jr is okay, but I find it tangles up the front hook quite a bit even with a heavy mono leader

I'd like to pickup a bucca bull gill glide and a sly guy 5.9 or 5.7, just can't afford 80$+ on a single bait at the moment

 

[Shaun Solomon]

200s for me. It’s not a bad size, not too heavy. 168s seem a bit small, kinda defeats the point of the technique from my perspective. I’m looking for wide glide.

I don’t know wade hogs or whippersnappers, I’ll have to check them out.

 

[Snopro]

I fish 168s 90% of the time because big smallmouth will hit them. I've never had a Smallmouth hit a 200, but would love to catch the one willing to take it on.

I think wavers are like any other hardbody bait with built in action, you will get some duds. I have a 168 lite trout that sucks. It doesn't swim like the others.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

That’s interesting for sure. I had a dude that wanted me to paint some Negotiators in a Kokanee pattern for him for Lake Washington (super nice guy, I want to say his name was Sun Butma) and he was targeting smallies. I did a 10” rat for a dude a few years back and he got a SLOB of a smallie with it. But all things being equal, I can totally understand fishing a 168 for smallies (or spots) I usually don’t even target them with big baits. I use spinning gear probably 80% of the time for them.

Where y’all at in Oregon? You guys ever fish Lost Creek or Grove? I LOVE spots but I never find myself over that way, I’m by Albany.

 

[NKlamerus]

Maybe I'll try all my s-wavers and see if there's differences.

I'm in Eugene/Springfield but usually head south to fish, haven't made my way north yet.

I have fished cottage Grove but I have always had more luck at dorena

 

[Shaun Solomon]

CG has been very fickle to me. I’ve had numerous outstanding days there, mixed bags with a largemouth kicker, and I’ve been blanked more than is typical. I don’t enjoy summer fishing the lake at all due to, uh… certain anthropological displays, but spring has been good, and I’m pretty sure there is a 7+lb spot in there, which would be my pb spot by a long shot.

I have had some truly memorable outings at Dorena. I was extremely concerned it would suffer a fish kill (and CG) this summer with low water, but it doesn’t appear that happened. I didn’t even get out there this year due to this and that. Last year just sucked. I’m hoping to get some more time on the water in ‘22.

 

[Fishpdx]

The past 4 years bladebait is my #1 for bass , I have better luck than live worms , I usually order them on ebay in big packs and I love the regular silver ones . They are also good for walleye. But I've caught bass,walleye,trout,perch,salmon on it .

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Yeah blades are sick. Everything comes back around eventually. It’s sorta like underspins, I caught ten kids of hell out of all sorts of fish on those as a kid, then drifted away from them as I grew more “sophisticated” in my methods. I returned to them subsequently after drifting back to early memories and realizing how stupid I had been for ever putting them down. I wish everyone would put them down.

Anyone here fish Westies or worms on dartheads? Another way I used to nuke fish I don’t do much anymore, come to think of it.

 

[Snopro]

Something occurred to me while reading this. You guys sound like dedicated bass fishermen. How much of your fishing time is spent perusing bass? Rough guess would be 35% for me.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

I’m about 95% bass. I like to walleye fish but don’t currently have a boat and that makes it a little bit harder with as much as they roam. I go surf perch fishing now and then and I fly fish for trout, but that’s pretty much it for me.

I was already impressed with your understanding of a range of bass techniques, but even more so if you only spend a third of your time targeting them.

 

[Snopro]

I was already impressed with your understanding of a range of bass techniques, but even more so if you only spend a third of your time targeting them.

Yeah, but I've spent 50% of my fishing gear budget on bass gear.

It's a sickness. I do think I'm at a point where I have my bass bases covered. If I'm not catching it's do to operator error and not lack of gear versatility. On the other hand the new Zman minimax looks great for smallies, and it seems like most of the pros are switching to 4000 size spinning reels for finesse, so I might not be done yet.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Bass anglers are the biggest gear wh*res on the planet, bar none. I attribute it to the presence of multiple high profile trails. Advertisement begets avarice. I’m guilty, and I actively attempt to subvert the manifestation of the phenomenon in my person. It’s true, one may employ a great range of methods in fishing for bass, but the same might be said of any other fish and no partisans of other species carry it to the same degree of excess.

I’m super sprung for the BFS Curado. I’ll be needing a rod for it too. Thinking Dobyns Sierra series…?

 

[Shaun Solomon]

So… is this seriously the whole crew? I know it’s a low traffic site but c’mon.

 

[NKlamerus]

Picked up some blades, didn't see any 3/8oz?

Bought some hooks but the split rings look terrible too! Might also swap out the snap at the top unless y'all call them good.

 

[NKlamerus]

Picked up some blades, didn't see any 3/8oz?

Bought some hooks but the split rings look terrible too! Might also swap out the snap at the top unless y'all call them good.

 

[NKlamerus]

Not sure why it double posted

I checked the reviews online, not only is the lure not available anymore but it sounds like some of the more recent ones aren't as good as the older versions

Took a photo from their reviews, top is the old one, bottom is the new one

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Ah heck. Yeah that sucks. The top one is the one I use, I peel that tape off and let the chrome show, looks a thousand times better. Well, that was the last BPS product I continued to use. You FOR SURE want to replace everything they come stock with. I always had a hard time finding a plain chrome blade, and they used to be inexpensive, but now they are just cheap.

You might go with short shank hooks, or go with 8s. I know people don’t like tiny hooks but they seem to work fine for me.

I guess I must have been mistaken about the weights. I use the 1/4 and 1/2. The 5/8 never really did much for me, I guess I could try it on 20lb nylon or something to slow the drop a bit.

Here’s a pic of the after-sticker look

 

[Fishpdx]

Not sure why it double posted

I checked the reviews online, not only is the lure not available anymore but it sounds like some of the more recent ones aren't as good as the older versions

Took a photo from their reviews, top is the old one, bottom is the new one

Yeah the top one is the one I used too , and I would tend to go with smaller hooks.

 

[NKlamerus]

Thanks y'all, unfortunately my lot is all new ones but I'll give them a go. The replacement hooks I bought are a tad shorter shaft, I thought they were kinda big but I'll try them, I did snip 1/3 points off on the front hook, and made sure they can't snare each other.

The other one I went with a treble hook replacement just to try it, I've had a lot of luck inshore saltwater fishing switching my trebles to inlines, once the hook is in, there is far less change of coming unhinged in my experience

Plus it'll really be a bottom dweller!

The design on these isn't a sticker so it'll have to stay, I need to scrounge around for some snaps if these won't work, all my snaps now are snap swivels.

I'm in the midst of winter tackle organizing and simultaneously redoing my tackle box I carry in the yak, but hoping to get out this weekend.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

I mean, to a certain extent blades are blades I guess. The thinner blade (height wise, top to bottom, not thickness) will raise the fundamental frequency of the “shake” you feel from the bait. I’m not excited about that. I’ll be doing blades myself I guess.

Your snap is fine for light line. I’m real jazzed about your singles. Keep me posted on that one. I was going to rig them with braid-snelled trap hooks on welded rings at some point. I do miss a significant number of bites, and they can’t all be yellow perch.